


would your heart know (if I met you in a brand new set of bones)

by lightningalwaysreturns



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adorable Armin Arlert, Boys In Love, Eremin - Freeform, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff without Plot, Light Angst, M/M, POV Armin Arlert, Protective Eren Yeager, eren jus wants to fight but he also loves armin okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 19:26:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11904600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightningalwaysreturns/pseuds/lightningalwaysreturns
Summary: Warm and blue, Armin’s eyes flickered open when he realized his hand still stayed twisted around Eren’s sleeve.No strain, no pull, just there. At rest.Eren was still.





	would your heart know (if I met you in a brand new set of bones)

**Author's Note:**

> title from same soul by pvris. unedited/beta'd as usu.

“Eren! Wait!”

It had become a litany, the prayerful repetition of pleas to be heard in moments when no one could reach him—

As children, small-voiced and small-fisted, a high-pitched scream that never traveled further than Armin’s lips on days when the heat pressed around him like a living thing. Mikasa always nearby, somehow, even if she was out of eyeshot. In town. In alleys. In between arms. 

As trainees, still so stubborn, heated and raw that Armin often wondered how Eren didn't wilt under the pressure of his own damned intensity. But cooler now that it had a target, a tangible focus in the titans. 

As soldiers, bleeding saturated dark venous red or frozen to the roof of his mouth the way that dreams of anything other than misery had in the years since they’d dreamed them.

Armin wouldn’t say he clung to that litany if anyone ever bothered to ask him—but then again, he learned new things all the time. About himself and the way that he felt about Eren. About the Scout Regiment and their history and even about their world. Their very existence.

His hand wrapped around the fabric of Eren’s uniform jacket sleeve, snagging his shirt underneath as well. Anything to get him to stop, knowing full well nothing Armin _or anyone_ did had ever been enough.

Eren always left.

Always sprinted into the fight, always eager to bolster—or break—his own heart.

Armin’s grip was weak, his fingers as effective as daffodil petals up against Eren’s fire. He didn’t expect to be heard this time any more than he had ever been, with his head tilted low and shoulders slack—half-prepared to be batted back.

Shoved away.

Left behind.

Told, with body and breath, bold enough to blister, _Let me handle this. Let me protect you like I always have._

Warm and blue, Armin’s eyes flickered open when he realized his hand still stayed twisted around Eren’s sleeve.

No strain, no pull, just there. At rest.

Eren was still. And looking at Armin with that sharp stare of his, all green-eyed fervor too hard for his years. His mouth formed the smallest frown to match the one at his brow.

“Armin,” he said, an edge to his soft voice. “Don’t do that.”

The time that slowed around them seeped into Armin’s skin. He shivered, scared, shrinking.

Eren turned to face him—and he had a habit of moving faster than Armin could keep track of, even before it was discovered he could transform himself into the monsters they fought so desperately against—to take both of Armin’s shoulders into his hands.

Two swift heartbeats vibrated between them as though they rang out in sync, connected at the place where Eren’s brown skin rested against Armin’s fair.

“Don’t act like I won’t come back to you.”

Light caught his eyes—oh, the light, it was always there in his eyes, highlighting jade to jewel. The same eyes that Armin had known for most of his life, that had always been begging for a chance to fight; as children, as trainees, as soldiers, _now_.

And that was the funny thing, really. Armin stood staring at Eren like a stricken bird under the gaze of a snake, but Eren had never left him for long. Had never bared fangs to anyone except those who’d caught sight of the bird that refused to fight back.

Eren had only ever shoved away Armin to push him to safety while Eren himself became the paladin for the pawn who was satisfied to outwit. When Eren fought, it was always to protect. To retribute. To reclaim.

He only ever left _to come back_.

Another shiver worked through Armin’s body, so profound that he knew Eren could feel it, too. It felt like too much—it felt like he wanted to fucking _cry_ —and for the first time in a long time, he had no idea what to say.

“O-okay.”

At that, the corner of Eren’s mouth lifted, exposing teeth that had never closed around Armin. His features shifted in an instant, lines smoothing and eyes brightening further in the wake of this fleeting, full-hearted smile.

“Okay.” He nodded, squeezed Armin’s shoulders once (so tight, so _strong_ ) then released them to step back, closer to the doorway he’d been halfway out of before Armin stopped him. “Let’s go, then,” he said.

Armin sniffled, smiled as he nodded back, reaching to grab his jacket from the table by the door. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

In-step, together, the way it had always been.

**Author's Note:**

> first non-marvel fic and first thing ive completed in months!!! pls love these boys as much as i do fhidkfds


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